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Patriot Coal Corp. joined at least a half-dozen other mining companies in bankruptcy court, filing for protection for the second time in less than three years amid a slump in the price of the commodity, Bloomberg News reported today. The company listed assets and liabilities of more than $1 billion each in court filings yesterday in Richmond, Virginia. The company said that it’s engaged in negotiations for the sale of substantially all of its operating assets to a strategic partner. A group of secured creditors have committed to providing $100 million in financing during the bankruptcy, Patriot Coal said. Shipments and mining will continue as usual. The company emerged from bankruptcy in December 2013, slashing its debt to $545 million from $3.07 billion by selling assets and closing some mines.

Women’s clothing retailer Fresh Produce has found a buyer who promised to keep more than half of its 27 stores alive, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Fresh Produce officials said in court papers that an entity called Blue Stripe LLC is preparing to buy all but 12 stores out of bankruptcy protection. Blue Stripe beat other offers at an auction on Friday for the Fresh Produce stores and online clothing line, which targets both tourists and “non-tourist customers for whom a ‘vacation state of mind’ resonates,” said Chief Financial Officer Jo Stone in earlier documents filed in in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver. The Boulder, Colo., chain filed for chapter 11 protection on April 4, blaming an “aggressive overexpansion” and high turnover in key positions.

American Eagle Energy Corp. filed for chapter 11 protection, the latest energy company forced to restructure because of depressed oil and gas prices, Reuters reported yesterday. Listing about $215 million in debts, American Eagle Energy filed its petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver on Friday, about two months after missing an interest payment on $175 million of notes. The Littleton, Colo.-based company, which drills mainly in the so-called "Spyglass Area" in North Dakota, had raised the debt just last August, shortly before a sharp drop in oil prices would threaten profit margins. It joins a list of recently bankrupt energy companies including Quicksilver Resources and Dune Energy. Read more.

For more insight on oil and gas bankruptcies, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

International Bridge Corp., a company that does construction and maintenance on the island of Guam, filed for chapter 11 protection on Thursday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In filings with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas, International Bridge said it needs access to cash secured by liens against its business to continue day-to-day operations and pay its vendors and employees. The company, which got out of the construction business in Guam and now performs service and maintenance at a high school there, owes $4.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service and $4.8 million to the Guam government.

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair is preparing to buy the Golf Club at Briar’s Creek near Charleston, S.C., after a bankruptcy judge approved that deal in a court order filed on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported today. With the approval from Judge John Waites, McNair and several minority investors who teamed up to offer a bid of $11.3 million can take over the private, 18-hole course. In earlier court documents, the club’s lawyers said Mr. McNair’s offer would enable the club, which employs 50 people, to spend $2 million on both its operations and on improvements. Yet some current and resigned golf club members are expecting to recover less than half of $13 million they are owed once the sale proceeds are paid out. The purchase offer includes $7.4 million in cash, while investor Edward L. Myrick Sr., who helped found the club, would forgive a roughly $3.9 million loan he had extended. The course filed for bankruptcy protection on Feb. 9, saying it hasn’t been able to persuade more than a handful of people to build homes on its lots. The community, spread over more than 900 acres, has only eight developed housing lots, according to court documents.

HRG Group Inc., the holding company formerly known as Harbinger Group Inc., is still paying for the collapse of RadioShack Corp. as it seeks to recover from losses on loans two units made to the retailer before its bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported today. Fidelity & Guaranty Life said on Wednesday that its participation in a $250 million loan to RadioShack arranged by HRG-owned Salus Capital Partners contributed to a $32 million impairment charge that wiped out its first-quarter profit. Harbinger bought FGL in 2011 under former Chairman Philip Falcone, then sold a stake of about 19 percent in an initial public offering in 2013. HRG said in a statement it’s considering the sale of the remaining stake. It’s also reviewing options for Salus that include a sale of the firm after the lender suffered losses linked to the RadioShack loan.

Cache Inc.'s unsecured creditors dropped a bid to force the liquidating women's retailer into a chapter 7 bankruptcy after reaching concessions with the company and its secured lender, Salus Capital Partners, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Through a deal reached just minutes before a court hearing yesterday, Salus has agreed to set aside $800,000 from what otherwise would have been its cash collateral to help pay creditors. The money will fund stub rent claims owed to Cache's now-former landlords as well as pay suppliers for goods delivered in the 20 days prior to Cache's bankruptcy filing.

Optim Energy LLC has abandoned the bankruptcy sale of its two Texas power plants and instead will restructure under a plan that leaves Bill Gates's private-equity firm in control of the company, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Optim is controlled by the Microsoft Corp. co-founder's Cascade Investment, which had set a floor price for the plants at $355 million, subject to higher bids at auction. But after an extensive marketing campaign, Optim's lawyers said on Wednesday in court papers, the company didn't receive any satisfactory bids for the plants. “The reorganizing debtors have now determined, in consultation with their advisers, independent directors and the consultation parties, that the best path forward is to terminate the sale process and instead seek confirmation of the plan," Optim said in court papers. The plan will give the senior lenders, which includes Cascade, ownership of the reorganized company, a second-lien note plus residual cash.

Frederick’s of Hollywood Inc. received bankruptcy-court approval Wednesday to move forward with a $22.5 million offer that would keep the iconic brand alive, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A bankruptcy judge signed off on the company’s proposed protections for the offer from Authentic Brands Group Inc., which will be tested at auction on May 28 should competing offers emerge. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said at a hearing yesterday that the bid rules proposed by Frederick’s are “perfectly adequate” and “possibly in a form that would create some competitive bidding.” The offer from Authentic Brands is for Frederick’s intellectual property, some inventory and its e-commerce business, since the company entered bankruptcy having shut down its remaining store locations. The protections for that bid include a $775,000 termination fee, negotiated down from $850,000 with the committee representing unsecured creditors, and $300,000 in expense reimbursement.

Federal bankruptcy watchdogs have asked that an independent examiner be appointed to oversee spending in the bankruptcy of GT Advanced Technologies Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported today. U.S. Trustee William Harrington this week asked Bankruptcy Judge Henry Boroff to appoint a third party to sort through the bills — from law firms and other advisers — that are expected to arrive as part of GT Advanced’s case. The company’s lead bankruptcy lawyer, Luc Despins, said the firm won't oppose the motion. GT Advanced filed for chapter 11 protection in October 2014 after plunging into debt in an unsuccessful bid to produce smartphone-screen material for Apple Inc. The company decoupled from Apple by way of a settlement approved by the court in December 2014 and attempted a recovery as a manufacturer of furnaces and other industrial equipment.